Midnight Coloured Fruit
by Professor Cheesecake
Summary: A series of grammatically correct oneshots, even though it's written on a phone. Come on, test it out, see if you like, and I hope you will .
1. Too Little, Too Late

**Hey. **

**So. **

**What up?**

**That's cool, that's cool...yeah, so I, like, decided to start a new series of OneShots. I'm calling them Midnight Coloured Fruit. Wanna know why? No, don't give me that look, I really don't care if you want to know, I'm going to tell you anyway. It's because the colour of midnight is generally known as black (unless you're like, in a place where the sun shines 24/7 like antarctica in the summer or something) and...would you just shut up and let me continue what I'm saying? Seriously, I just want to explain...anyway, so yeah, fruit. Black fruit. BlackBerry. Guess what kind of phone I've got? And guess what I typed this entire chappy on? **

His body shook in her arms, quivering, terrified and yearning for her protection. A mother's protection. Protection that she wished she'd been able to give sooner.  
She didn't know what he'd been through, had no idea the extent of his fear and pain, and yet she wished she could, wished that she knew, so she could take it away from him and carry the burden herself. He didn't deserve his pain. All he had done was help, sacrifice every little thing he had to protect everyone around him, while she had remained oblivious to the fact that her own son's life had flipped so drastically, and even worse, had made it even harder for him. She didn't even notice when her old friend, a man who sat in her own living room, the man she and her husband had attended school with, had been blatantly taunting him by doing just that. Sure, she'd noticed how he'd become such a creep, but she never fathomed how dark and twisted his mind worked.  
That man...that man had the audacity to take her daughter's life as if she were a fly buzzing around his head, claiming that the girl was no use to anybody, anyway. Too smart for her own good, nosing into other people's business; keeping to herself, he'd said, probably would have saved her life. Probably.  
She hadn't even known this, though, until after. She didn't know that Vlad was her daughter's murderer, didn't even see it when her son pounced on him, yelling and screaming for him to go back to whatever dirty little hole he'd come from and never come back. She'd chalked it up to grief, combined with the fact that he and Vlad had never really gotten along anyway. She'd even apologised for her son's behaviour...  
It was Jazz's funeral the day that he struck again. Jack was making his speech, choking through tears, and she was doing her best not to sob too loud as she held her remaining child close to her heart. Danny had suddenly gone rigid-and two seconds later chaos reigned throughout the funeral home. Everyone was screaming, the pounding of people's footsteps rocked the floor as grieving friends and family tried to escape. They were lucky if they could actually see an escape route; clouds of brown dust with a trace of green impeded their vision to a point where one's own hand was a blur a foot in front of their face.  
So caught up in the pandemonium, Maddie didn't even notice that her son had left her side until the dust cleared enough for her to see him, crouching next to what she vaguely recognised as her husband laying on the floor. She was by their side in an instant...  
...fast enough to watch as the light that she had fallen so deeply in love with in her husband's eyes diminish as he took his last breath to say an 'I love you' that couldn't be heard over the continuing screams of the panicked people, still trying to escape, yet failing.  
Her throat was dry, her body numb. No. This wasn't happening. It just wasn't...but why...how did... The questions swirled in her mind sluggishly, not even front and centre but in the back, as she just stared at the man who had been there for her forever, laughed with her, cried with her, gotten down on one knee with a small box in hand and asked her to marry him... He wasn't supposed to be gone, not so soon after Jazz had left, no, it was just...just cruel...how would Danny...?  
Danny. She blinked, as she realized in horror the connection between her husband's and daughters untimely deaths. She looked around desperately; where had her son gone? He wasn't beside her anymore, he didn't look like he was tangled in the now smaller crowd trying to leave, he was nowhere in sight. Her breathing became more rapid as she stood up and frantically searched for her baby boy. No...If her family was being targeted, she would never let him out of her sight again.  
She had found him, of course. He was on the roof; however, she hadn't recognised him at first, didn't know that it was her son hiding under that snow white hair and glowing eyes that she had hunted down for months. She had been tempted to just leave the scene and continue searching for her son, until his voice, the voice he had still thought of as innocent at the time, had commanded her to stay and...Chat.  
She hadn't actually noticed he was there until he had spoken up, and when she did, it scared her. He had such a smile on his face...she had never seen something so malevolent. Thinking back to the moment, Maddie couldn't believe that she had still asked if he had seen her son after witnessing that smile. But she had been a desperate mother focused on keeping what remained of her family in the realm of the living. If she hadn't asked, she was sure she never would have found her son.  
Oh, how she wished that her thoughts hadn't been so gruesomely true...  
Vlad had laughed at her question, and her fear had risen considerably. He then pointed at the ghost in the room, the ghost she was willing to ignore in favour of the search for her son. Ironic.  
"I actually have seen your son, my dear Madeleine...I still do, in fact. So do you."  
And so Vlad showed her what she had missed for the past two years, having deemed it impossible. Theoretically, it was; the chemicals found within ectoplasmic energy would obliterate any human systems if it found its way inside the body. But what was in front of her very own eyes disproved the theory. She didn't know why-maybe his human cells had been altered to adapt, or it was a different type of ectoplasm, or the ectoplasm itself could actually be separate and intangible while near his human self-but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She had found her baby, even if he was hiding a whole other person inside himself, and knew that he was safe for the time being. But Vlad blocked her way from rushing forward and holding her boy close and never letting go. He wasn't done yet, he'd said; and the most malicious, maniacal grin found its way onto his face as he explained to her exactly what she had missed for over two decades now.  
And so came about the plotting, the hating, and the fear invoking that Vlad's tale told on repeat, with different fear struck into different people, and she was told how none of them had been so fun to scare or even kill as the man who had taken the life and what Maddie assumed was also his sanity for the past twenty two years.  
She hadn't let him finish, before she grabbed her son and dashed out of the room so quickly that a race car driver would have been proud.  
And so now here she was, holding her shaking boy, doing her best to comfort him against the horrific terror and trauma that he'd been through, while desperately needing someone to hold on to her as well. It wouldn't be long before they were found, she knew. It would never be enough time before Vlad caught up to them.

** I will edit this later, and post it on DeviantArt. Soon as I figure out _how_...stupid thing won't let me upload stories. Anybody with experience know how (and if you're going to help, you're going to need a lot of patience with my incompetence with the internet.)?**

**And it only occured to me this morning how ironic it was to submit an angsty sotry on Valentine's Day. Well...I hope you enjoyed the holiday! :D**


	2. I'm Gone

**Hey, y'all! How's life in...wherever you're at? **

**So, yeah. Another li'l oneshot. I wrote it in the middle of the night, just like the last one, on my phone. I hope you've all caught on to the fact that these oneshots are all going to be written on my phone...**

**I'm not so sure about this one, though...it's a little short, and not as upset as I hoped it would be. Funny, though, that the actual inspiration for this oneshot was in the previous chappy's Authors Note :P**

Oh, look. Isn't that sweet. You actually give a rat's behind. I'm glad it started showing-it took you long enough, that's for sure.  
Okay, sure, maybe I am being a little bitter. What else do you expect? You didn't notice for over two years. I practically waved it in front of you, dressing it up in neon clothing and dancing the macarana with it. I'm bound to be bitter.  
You're not the one to blame? What's that supposed to mean? Do you really believe that I'm going to act like this is something that nobody could notice unless they squint at it using the most powerful microscope in the world? Pshh. Like I said, the macarana. Not to mention that the whole town has noticed it by now, it's a little more than obvious. Even Sam's parents have noticed it, and they're out of town six days a week.  
Oh, come on. Stop with the 'sorrys'. Yeah, sure, your life is busy too, but it's in the newspaper, every other day. My face was crystal clear only three weeks ago! I got shoved in a different jock's locker every period that day. Jazz says it's because they wanted to prove that they're still better than me, even if I am in the news.  
Yes, Jazz is involved in this too. If you ask me, she's the first person that would get involved in this, anyway. She's the smartest out of all of us, and she knows enough about psychology to know and replicate the expresion people make when they're being honest. If she wasn't involved, we'd have been dead a while ago.  
You heard me. Dead. Oh, good for you! You actually came to the conclusion that we can take care of ourselves! Do you want a sticker?  
No, actually, I'll speak to you however I want. It took you so long to notice how involved I was in ghost hunting, it's a miracle that you actually noticed I spoke to you that way. I'm fine; there's nothing you can do to help my case. I mean, it was funny and I was grateful for how oblivious you are in the beginning, but when I started coming home that late, with cuts and bruises, I at least expected you to ask what was wrong.  
No thanks, I won't elaborate on how I got them. There's too many (not that you ever noticed) to recount them all. Besides, I'm leaving. I'll probably stay the night at-  
Well, I wouldn't call it running away. I'm not running-do I look like I'm running?-and I'm sure that part of running away is having your parents NOT know where you are. Well, okay, I was about to tell you, but you wouldn't let me finish. Doesn't matter anyway. I'm moving out.  
Yeah, that's where I'm staying. I have to say, I'm mildly impressed; you actually remembered who my best friend is.  
What did you say? Oh. Yeah, he's been involved in the ghost hunting stuff too. Guys, really, your inability to answer these no-brainer questions is starting to embarrass me, and there's no one else around. His parents are ghost hunting experts. Of course he's involved in this. He started it all, with the help of Sam. Yeah, Danny's been in the paper too. Probably more than the rest of us combined.  
Bye, mom, bye, dad. Say goodbye to gramma Foley to me. I'm gone.

**How long did it take you to figure out who it was? How good am I at hiding it?**

**Again, I'll edit it an post it on deviantArt as soon as I figure out how, because the stupid thing won't worrrrkkkk...:( **

**Then I'll give you the link to it :D**

**Um, also? It'd be vundahful for you all to check out my other stories. Y'know, any of 'em. I have a Harry Potter (however weird, different, not really involving known characters self-insert) story out there, too...one that's badly in need of reviews and such...**


	3. Darling, I Love You

**DUDES! For some reason, when I'm typing this, the font on Fanfiction looks reeeeeeeeeeally weird and tiny! I hope it's not messed up when you're reading it!  
I typed this last night from about 7 to...about 10:45ish. I took lots of breaks, though. If I take the time I took and put it all together, I'd say it took...about an hour.  
This might not make sense at first, so I'll explain it at the bottom. I'm not about to give it away, though, obviously. If you catch what I'm talking about, this might actually be kinda boring-but if you don't then, well, I wish I could see your expression!  
**  
Cheers resounded as Sam Manson stood from her chair and kicked it out of the circle of chairs around her. Catcalls and hoots were heard from some of the goofs in the audience of thirty-two.  
She chewed her lip, looking around the circle of chairs for that one, special person. Her lips spread upward in a grin as he ended up in her line of vision. He saw her gaze and immediately looked away, squirming in one of the squeaky fold out chairs that everybody else-save for Sam-was sitting in. His pale cheeks brightened into a cherry red colour, his eyes looked anywhere but at hers, and his posture immediately curled in on itself, trying desperately to be as invisible as he was when his hair was white and eyes green.  
Beside the blushing boy was another one, an African American donning a red beret on his head and a pair of thick black square glasses over his eyes. His mouth was opened to let the joyous laughter bubbling from within him escape.  
Sam slowly walked over to the pair of boys, letting her thick boots hit the ground with a loud sound each and every time, building suspense, enjoying every second that her best friend squirmed in discomfort, listening to the sounds of the delighted audience around her.  
She took one last step and stopped when she couldn't walk any farther unless she wanted to walk on top of him. His eyes were now trained on the far wall on the opposite side of the room, taking in every tiny detail on the black painted brick, refusing to so much as glance at the goth girl smirking at him so deviously.  
Her heartbeat picked up just the slightest; would this work? What would he say? How long would it take before he'd be coherent enough to answer anything she said?  
She slowly lowered herself onto one knee, clasped her hands together near her neck in a hopeful, innocent looking gesture that contrasted greatly with her clothing style and attitude, and looked up at him with wide eyes and a solemn expression.  
"Danny," she began, and waited for an answer. He gave a short nod in response, his face forcefully grim, a smile threatening to break that appearance. The audience around them booed, and informed him that he needed to look at her in the eyes. He reluctantly did.  
Taking advantage of this, Sam batted her eye lashes at him in a flirtatious manor. His lips trembled-he was trying not to smile.  
"Darling," she began quietly, looking him directly in the eyes, a trick that never failed to work, "I...I love you!" she yelled, spreading her arms wide and jumping to her feet, keeping her eyes locked on his. He was resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands, to hide his grin as well as his blush.  
But Sam wasn't done yet. She leaned over, placing her face as close to his as she could without coming into contact with him. He couldn't help but notice how her lips were only a breath away from his own, how her eyes shined with sparkling amusement, and how her breath smelled as sweet as the gum that he'd given her only half an hour ago. He swallowed; all he had to do was keep a straight face and then this mocking torture would be gone, and it would switch to somebody else. Of course, Sam would never get this close to anybody else, would she? She was only this close to him because they had been friends for so long. They were comfortable with each other...  
Sam opened her mouth, ready to finish what she had been saying. It came out in a whisper.  
"...won't you please, please smile for me?"  
Danny didn't say anything for a few moments after she'd finished her sentence. He barely dared to breathe with her so close, and he certainly didn't want to do anything that involved opening his mouth at the moment.  
Thankfully, Sam was drifting away. She didn't seem to notice it-it wasn't even an inch, after all-but it gave the boy some breathing room to finally attempt to say something. Hopefully he could hear himself over the pounding of his own heart.  
"D-darling, I love you," he replied, and he was aware of their audience 'oooh' at this new turn of events, "but I-I just can't smile...f-f-for..." he trailed off, now trying desperately to control his own expression as Sam gasped dramatically and threw her head back, one hand to her heart, the other to her forehead. He swallowed, and repeated himself, "darling I...I..."  
Finally, the poor boy couldn't take it anymore, and burst into a fit of laughter.  
"Alright, Danny, you're in." said Ms Little, the drama teacher. Danny, still red faced and chuckling slightly, stood up from his chair, which Sam promptly sat down in, grinning evilly at the former inhabitant of the chair.  
Danny looked around the circle made up by his classmates, looking for someone to 'declare his love to'. He'd probably be in the middle for a looong time...  
If one thing was for sure, it was that Danny Fenton did not like drama class.

**Ok, I will at last explain. See, there's a game in drama class called 'Darling I Love You'. It starts off with a person in the middle of a circle of chairs (and there are people sitting _in _those chairs, obviously) and that person has to go up to somebody in the circle and say in any way you can (preferably a crazy, makes-anybody-laugh way) "Darling! I love you! Won't you please, please smile for me?"  
Then, the person that it's being directed to has to respond, "Darling, I love you, but I cannot smile for you." with a completely straight face. If you smile or laugh, then you take the place of the person standing in the middle.  
It's a good way to train yourself to keep a straight face. What I got Sam to do is actually very...small. What some people do is they go out of the circle, walk behind their victim, blow lightly on their face/ear or something...or whisper in their ear...  
This guy in my drama class got out his ipod touch and played a really incredibly romantic song (the next time he did this he played the Rick Roll song) then got as close to his victim (another GUY, mind you, both straight, not that I'm against the other way but that's besides the point, and you're not allowed contact in this game) as he possibly could (he was almost straddling the guy. Seriously.) and started singing along-we were astounded at how long it took for the victim to laugh. He did laugh, eventually, but it did take a while.  
Enjoy the fic, I hope it made sense, and I hope that I explained the game well (and I hope some of you, at least, have played it. It's a fun game.)**


	4. It's A Sue World, After All

**What is it with FanFiction making my font super small? Seriously. It's weird (it doesn't show up when you're reading it, I know, but I'm just ranting.)****Anywho, this is the new chapter. I recently read a story where everybody was horribly out of character, and so I got fed up enough to write this: A Mary Sue parody. Except instead of a new character being introduced, I worked with the ones I was given.  
...and I meant to finish this. I honestly did. Buuuuuuuuuut...I don't know, I got fed up with the sheer stupidity of it, even though it's my own writing. It's slightly amusing to me anyway, but, still...I don't like seeing Sam out of character, especially. She's my favourite character in the DP universe, and it's really hard to get her character right, and people usually butcher it. So I butchered it on purpose XD****I'll have a couple notes at the end on some consistencies I've noticed in these types of Sue-fics. Enjoy!**

Sam skipped along down the street, thinking of how important Danny was to her and how she couldn't possibly be in love with him even though she wanted to spend every waking moment (hey, why limit it to waking time? It was nice to fall asleep in his arms, not that she cherished the memory from that night that they had all fallen asleep watching movies together-it was perfectly normal for friends to curl up next to each other, too) with him. You know, because Goth's do that.  
She neared the school, ever so excited to see her best friend again (and Tucker, too. Couldn't forget about him...though she often did. He never seemed to mind, though. It was like he just disappeared or something.). She skipped inside, prancing gracefully all the way to her locker, not even noticing the stares of some of the cuter guys that had their eye on her. At seventeen, Sam had grown (and, as was proved if you only glanced to her chest area) in more ways than one, and wore a lot less black lately, instead settling for dark reds that had actually caught the eye of the notorious Dash Baxter many a semester ago.  
Grabbing her things out of her locker, she started on her way to her first class, advanced placement English Honours. All her classes were honours, advanced placement, or both. It was remarkably easy to keep up her grades while ghost hunting with Danny-all she did was follow him around with Tucker by her side every now and then (again, the techno geek tended to disappear into thin air sometimes, almost as if he were the ghost and not Danny), and getting home late into the night didn't effect her, or her grades, in the slightest.  
But halfway to her destination, she saw something that made her stop cold.  
Paulina Sanchez, the most beautiful girl in school (save for Sam, but she was far too modest to notice or care how absolutely gorgeous and flawless she had become) had a boy pinned to a row of lockers. Usually, Sam wouldn't care about this in the slightest, but the boy that the Queen Bee was liplocking with was the one and only Danny Fenton.  
Violet eyes burned with tears, dainty hands started trembling, and beautiful legs felt both like lead and like running away as fast as she possibly could. Wave after wave of anguish hit her harder than any ghost ever could (not that they ever did hit her; they usually hit Danny, and she was always the one that patched him up, nevermind the fact that Jazz still lived at home and went to Med School...). Sam turned around, stomping away in her six inch heels (very nice for running; her combat boots just got in the way), refusing to cry, refusing to go and stand up for the boy she finally admitted to herself she was in love with. No, she didn't need an explanation from him-she didn't need him as a friend. If he was going to choose that slut over the best friend that he had never admitted anything more than platonic feelings for (and up until this moment she never admitted anything more than platonic feelings for him, either, but she had known-or thought she did-deep down inside, that they would be together forever!), then he was going to lose his once-best friend.  
Oh, of course, he wouldn't be the only one to lose her. No, everybody here was going to pay for denying her the love and popularity she had never strived for.

* * *

"Ew, Paulina! What the hell was that for!" exclaimed Danny, pushing away the girl he had always been smitten with in horror.  
"But Danny," purred the school princess who had never shown any interest in the 'geek' she had just kissed until this moment, "you're cute, I'm cute, and you're a good kisser." she said, winking, ignoring the fact that it had been her kissing Danny and he hadn't even responded.  
Danny glared at her, having gathered his wits remarkably fast, considering he had just been pounced on by the hottest girl in school. "You only like me because I'm Danny Phantom!" he exclaimed, despite the fact that he was talking to one of the dumbest girls in school who he had never even hinted his secret to.  
Paulina gasped, and the halls went silent, having heard what he said throughout the school.  
"Danny" she said in shock, eyes wide, and a hand to her mouth, "y-you're the...the ghost boy?" she whispered, believing him immediately (it all made sense, after all. It was completely possible for somebody to be half ghost, especially somebody who fell over his own two feet all the time, and it certainly explained how he was always late, as Paulina always kept track of).  
Danny's eyes widened in horror, realising that she actually didn't know his secret, and he had just told everybody. Without even trying to redeem himself and keep his secret intact, he immediately transformed in front of everybody and flew through the walls and out of the school.

**Let's begin with the consistencies! Yay!**

**1. Sam is usually very obviously in love with Danny, but she never admits it. Yes, I know that she actually does do that, but she mentally _gushes _about him. I mean, come on! She's a goth! Besides, he's not all she thinks about. She has a life, you know.**

**2. THERE IS NO TUCKER. I mean, he shows up occasionally, but it's all Sam and Danny. YES, I know that if it's a romance story Danny will want to be with Sam more than Tucker, but he and Danny are best friends! I may not be a guy, but I do know guys at least talk about girls that they like...sometimes...I think...you get the point. If I were to continue this fic (because I was planning to before I got fed up with it) I would have Tucker be outside and notice Sam run out of the school (it's alright. Sam is on good enough terms with the teachers that they won't care if she skips the day) and text Danny about it (because another thing I've noticed is that if Tucker IS mentioned, he's just like, 'meh.')**

**3. Sam magically becomes gorgeous. So does Danny (and Tucker, when he's mentioned.)**

**4. Sam becomes incredibly smart. I wonder how she does that when all she thinks about is Danny...**

**5. Danny does ALL the ghost fighting. Sam and Tucker aren't just there to keep his secret, you know. They kick butt too. (obviously Danny would do the majority of it-he does have quite the advantage over them, being ghostified and all-but they do participate)**

**6. Paulina always kisses Danny, and Sam sees and gets uber jealous. This then leads to Sam giving up on absolutely everything (I was going to have Sam commit suicide, because that's another consistency around this, which is another reason why I stopped writing. It was all fluffy-like - however stupid the fluff was -that I couldn't bring myself to write Sam killing herself. Also, Sam wouldn't stoop to that. Goth doesn't mean suicidal), and making everyone 'pay' for something she had never asked for, and had pointedly said she didn't want. She's never like popularity-she won't kill herself over it.**

**7. As soon as Sam leaves, the reader discovers that Paulina kissed Danny, and Danny was over her years ago, having moved onto Sam. And suddenly Paulina is smitten with him for whatever reason.**

**8. Danny stupidly reveals his secret somehow. And everybody believes it without question (even when he doesn't actually transform. Then, he doesn't even try to cover up his secret. I mean, he'd look like an idiot for saying it in the first place, yes, but that's no reason to throw away {in this case} three years worth of hiding it.)**

**...and I was going to continue, where Danny gets to Sam just after she, well, dies, and then confesses his love for her, sobbing by her bedside. Then maybe I'd have her ghost come back so they'd live happily ever after...(it's a Sue thing. I wouldn't do that in reality.)**

**Enjoy! Please review. **

**Oh, also, there might not be any of these for a little while, because I seem to have misplaced my phone... :(**

***EDIT* I found my phone. I dropped it in my mom's car. The next little one-shot on here will probably be about snow, because guess what it's doing here in Canada :D :D :D :D**


	5. I Blame The Haircut

**Hello people, and welcome back to Midnight Coloured Fruit! This one little oneshot is the longest little MCF oneshot I've evah written. It began in Spanish class, continued at home, continued again in Spanish, continued again at home, and...well, it just kept continuing like that. That's my favourite part of MCF-I can write whereeever I want. Well, not in MOST of my classes, but in Spanish only because my teacher doesn't teach at all, and gives us an hour of 'chill time'. *facepalm***

**And now, a special message from a good friend of mine, Nikevi.**

_** Nikevi: Hi reader peoples! Read Silvertongue's Daughter's stuff cause it's awesome and I might have to slaughter you in your sleep if you don't. KTHANKSBYE**_

**Me: O_o **

**Right. I suggest listening to her. Or...well, I'm sure you all read the message. Enjoy!**

**Also, don't harp on me for centering it around an OC. It just wouldn't work for the story if she was connected to Danny in any way whatsoever. **

**And this takes place in the future.  
**

**(I don't own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I don't own Apple or BlackBerry, either. I do own Delaney, though.)  
**

I stared at the mirror, my expression blank, my mind horrified.  
I swallowed, before turning to look at my mom, who was beaming at me, the picture of delight. I swallowed, before saying what I knew would crush her spirits. Normally I wouldn't be so harsh-but she brought it upon herself, honestly.  
"I'm never letting you cut my hair again." I said bluntly, before glancing down at the bundle of white-blonde hair scattered across the floor beside my chair. I looked back to the mirror, directing my green eyes to what was now a boy's haircut.  
On MY head.  
I could see my mom's face in the reflection behind me-she looked downright depressed. I knew how much this haircut meant to her, with her constantly bragging about the hair class she'd taken back in high school and how she'd done her friend's hair ever-so-beautifully, and that's why I had agreed to it, too. But if I'd known how badly her skills had deteriorated...well, I wouldn't look like a boy now.  
It wasn't just the haircut, either. With the size of my chest, my long, Rapunzel style hair was the only thing keeping me classified as female.  
My mom placed a manicured hand on my shoulder-whether it was to help her 'connect' with me or to help keep her balance, I wouldn't know-and took a deep breath. "Delaney..." she said softly, "I thought it would look...nice on you."  
I turned around as best I could in my chair to face her, eyes wide. "so you made me look like a boy-on PURPOSE? I-bu-n-MOM! Why!" I sputtered, shocked.  
She ran her hand through her hair (still long and beautiful, I thought bitterly), and averted her blue eyes away from me. "it was a popular hair style when I was younger. Lots of girls had it-it was called a pixie cut." she said quietly.  
"I-but mom." I said, "that was in, what, 2011, when you were fifteen? You're thirty, now, mom, and that haircut is WAY out of style."

Half an hour later, I was in my room, grounded. Without an apology for the atrocious haircut. And my mom took away my BlackBerry Apple, too.

"Really, Delaney? Still grounded? It's been a month."  
"don't you think I of all people would know that better than anyone? My mom says I'll be ungrounded when my hair grows back to what it used to be." I replied grimly.  
"Sucks for you."  
"You think?" I pointed to my hair. My bangs were the only things that had grown, and they had decided to do it remarkably fast, and I hated it with a passion. "I look like I've got a backwards mullet."  
My friend Sophie sighed. "well..." she said, scrunching up her face in thought.  
"Yes...?" I egged her on.  
"Um." she stared at the backwards mullet on top of my head. I rolled my eyes and waved for her to continue.  
Finally, she grimaced, and looked me in the eye. I raised my eyebrows, awaiting whatever it was that Sophie never failed to say to make me feel better.  
"...no more Tangled jokes?"  
I groaned, and buried my head in the seat in front of me on the school bus. If one of my best friends wasn't any comfort, the first day of school was going to be brutal.

"Martin Arthur?"  
"Here."  
"Susan Benson?"  
"Here."  
"Lillian Bohr?"  
"here."  
"Lenny Dennis?"  
"Mornin'."  
"Good morning. Delaney DeLong?"  
I paused.  
"Delaney DeLong?"  
"Here..."  
"Delaney, please take off your hat."  
I stared up at Mr Glenn, silently begging for him to change his mind. "uh, do I have to?"  
"Yes, you have to. I get it if you haven't had any rules to follow over summer, but I hope you remember that it's a lot different at school. Come on."  
I groaned. "with everybody staring at me?"  
Mr Glenn rolled his eyes. "Class, if you would please avert your eyes from Delaney, she needs to take her hat off."  
The class giggled around me and I glared at them all, before grudgingly taking off the blue beanie I had placed upon my head.  
Well, they weren't giggling anymore, that was for sure. In fact, calling this giggling would be calling Lindsey Lohan a slight disappointment.  
"Alright, alright, quiet down, I need to finish with the attendance.  
I don't think I'd ever been more fond of Mr Glenn than I was in that moment.

"hey, Delaney, you a guy now?"  
"Careful, Del, or else Jacqueline will ask you out."  
"Delaney, you're walking into the wrong bathroom!"  
Remember earlier, when I said that today was going to be brutal?  
Brutal is tame.  
This? This was insane torture.  
The comments, fuelled by the new teachers I had continually mistaking me for a guy, followed me all the way home.  
My next door neighbour, for instance, had the best opportunity, and he claimed that he was teasing my times ten to make up for the time he missed over summer while he was in Mexico.  
"I mean, what is that? A backwards mullet?"  
I glared at him before quickening my pace.  
He just sped up to catch up to me. "Really, Delaney? Mullets went out of style before my MOM was born, a backwards one won't work."  
There. My house was only down the street. Not too long before I got to ditch him and shut myself in the safety of my room.  
"you look like you got a haircut from my seven year old sister." he remarked, smirking. "it's almost as bad as-"  
I would have let him finish his stupid insult, honestly. My leg kicked out on its own accord! Or at least, that's what I told my less-than-convinced mother.  
I walked down the short hallway to my room, hitting my feet hard against the wooden floorboards, making sure my mom could hear it, loud and clear.  
My hand wrapped around the dull metal doorknob on my bedroom door, then I recoiled as if I were burnt-but it was actually just the opposite. The doorknob was as cold as ice! I examined my hand for a second; nothing was wrong with it, though it was still remarkably cold. I stared at the doorknob.  
I considered calling my mom to check it out, but I was sure that she'd just tell me to shut up and stop making a big deal over it. I bit my lip and gingerly poked the doorknob with one finger. Yup. Still cold.  
I shook the sleeve of my black sweatshirt out so it covered my hand, and used it as a makeshift glove to grab the doorknob. My eyes widened as I still felt the cold through my sleeve. I had the feeling that what I was about to do was really, really stupid. But I braced myself and turned the doorknob, pushed the door open, and-  
Screamed as an avalanche of boxes fall on me. It took a second to actually recognize that they were boxes anyway, but once I identified the cardboard, I came to the conclusion that there was something really heavy in them. And boy, did it hurt. Not to mention that the boxes were also extremely cold, making me shiver. I began to wonder worriedly about what on earth could be going on.  
"ow..." I moaned, as I attempted to move unsuccessfully as I felt a sharp corner dig in between my shoulders. I was beginning to get scared now. What was going on?  
I heard maniacal laughter, and the room got colder, and my fear grew like a chip in the window. I could actually see frost forming on the box right in front of me. My eyes widened, and I held back a squeak of terror.  
A voice began speaking. The voice sounded young, but rather scratchy, like a young girl with a cold. "finally!" it exclaimed, triumph colouring its tone, "I have captured the ghost boy!" the temperature in the room dropped a couple more degrees, and my shivering became even more violent. I didn't understand what was going on. Who was this ghost boy? It wasn't...wasn't me, was it? I swallowed, not even taking the chance to be offended by this.  
Suddenly a face appeared through-yes, THROUGH the box-and stared at me, a hungry gleam in its eyes. I was terrified and still trying to comprehend the fact that it was going through the box, so the fact that it was a glowing blue took a backseat in my mind. Its glowing eyes were widened in an insane glee, its mouth was still wide in laughter, and the worst of it is that the boy it had been talking about before was definitely me-gender confusion aside, all I wanted at th moment was not to be this...thing's target.  
"I caught you!" it shouted, and I flinched at the volume, "I really did!"  
I just stared at the thing, trying to understand what was going on.  
It stopped to examine me for a moment, and its smile faltered. Then, in the same manner that its head popped through the boxes, a hand reached out and grabbed me, and I was lifted up off the floor and...through?...the boxes. Before I could scream at just this itself, I was violently thrown to my bed, breaking it with a near panic-inducing jolt.  
The thing...the, the monster, or...what was it? It was flying, and it flew over me. Literally. It hovered above me, its face only inches from my own. It was frowning in confusion.  
"you..."  
I shook my head frantically, close to hyperventillating. "N-n-n-n-no," I said, "not me..." I said, terror filling me out to every corner of my body, stone cold yet boiling hot, I didn't know or care what was going on so long as it stopped and this was all just a dream.  
"but you're not him." said the monster...glowing floating mutant thing.  
I shook my head, trying to make it look like it wasn't because of my already shaking body.  
"n-no," I said, my voice a whisper, "i-I'm n-nobody, I...I'm a, a g-girl, I'm n-not...not HIM, I...I just, I...I don't know who HE is, I..."  
It leaned in even closer, its cold nose almost touching my own. "no..." it whispered cryptically, "you don't..."  
Then, miraculously, its expression changed from a puzzled from to the pout a child wears when denied a snack before dinner. It flew back away from my face and landed on what remained of my broken bed and crossed its arms.  
"Great." it mumbled, "I thought I caught the ghost boy. And mama would have been so proud, too..."  
Now that it wasn't interrogating me, I was calm enough to examine it properly. It was actually a girl, I decided. She seemed to be around nine or ten years old, with tacky purple overalls and a light pink tshirt underneath. A hat rested upon her head that was he same colour as her shirt, between two long black pigtails on either side of her head. Her hands, I noticed in surprise, weren't the blue I thought they were, but instead encased in silver gloves, a lot like the ones I had on my own hands-except mine weren't glowing. Although I couldn't tell whether or not it was the gloves glowing or just HER. She turned her head to look back at me, and I instinctively flinched backwards.  
She reached out a hand, smiling-yes, smiling. She had braces holding her teeth in place. "Cookie?" she asked sweetly, and, sure enough, there was a chocolate chip cookie in her hand. I took a brief moment to wonder where she got it from, before taking it. I didn't know what else would please her. I just hoped she didn't make me eat it.  
Her sweet smile turned into a mischievous grin, and she floated up into the air above me again, although thankfully nowhere near as close as before. She spread her arms wide and spoke to the ceiling as she announced, "I am the Box Lunch! Daughter of the Box Ghost and the. Lunch Lady!"  
Then, as quickly as it came, she dropped her ecstatic announcement act and dropped back onto the bed again, turning back to me with her sweet smile. "eat up your cookie, dear."  
I stared at her. Part of me was wondering why or how this...little kid of a monster...would offer me a cookie, and the rest of me thinking about the lecture given to me by my dad to never take candy from strangers. Or in this case, a cookie.  
Her smile was strained. "Eat it." she commanded, more forceful than before. Scared for my life, I put the cookie in my mouth and took a bite out of it. It tasted like cardboard, but I made a half strangled attempt to smile at her so she wouldn't change her mind and eat me instead.  
"Who are you?" she asked, examining me again, although thankfully not so close this time. "D-Delaney DeLong." my voice shook.  
She squinted at me. "and...what is your relation to the ghost boy?"  
I stared blankly at her, terrified that she would vaporize me for not knowing this...ghost boy...?  
"you don't know him, do you?" she asked slowly, and I shook my head just as slow.  
"but...but you look so much like him." I swallowed, and it took every effort I had to shrug.  
"Hm."  
And within a blink of an eye, she just...disappeared. A quick look around my room assured me that her boxes had gone, too.

**Ta daaa! **

**Okay, I know it's the most abrupt ending ever, but I hope y'all get the storyline. I'm thinking maybe I'll do another oneshot somewhere in the far future centering around Delaney again, but that's just a maybe. The one I'm thinking about right now is about Dani, though...I got the idea off of MLIA. sounds fun? I hope so. **

**See ya next chappy!  
**


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